“How should I feel after my first acupuncture treatment?”
I am a 54 year old male. I will have an acupuncture treatment for my depression. How should I feel after my first acupuncture treatment?
19 Answers
How did you feel? You should feel better for sure.
calm
Great and relaxed and rejuvenated.
You should feel relaxed and a bit less tense. Many experience what we call "acu drunk" where you feel loopy and carefree. It is helpful to be able to go home and relax for the day, and not perform strenuous activity until your body has adjusted to the effects of acupuncture.
You likely will feel really good; relaxed, upbeat and calm.
Assuming the medical provider completed a full intake interview with you and made an appropriate diagnosis, you have, with the first visit begun the therapy to bring your body into balance, and thereby beginning to shift your depression symptoms. Generally with depression, there can be digestive issues related to the Spleen, Stomach, and Small Intestine, which will need to be alleviated with the appropriate prescription herbal formula and ensuring that your gut flora is in balance, particularly if you have taken a number of antibiotics at any time in your life. Acupuncture is a therapy and one visit is just the start, so I would speak with your provider to talk about the plan of how many months it will take to resolve chronic issues like depression so you have a realistic view of how long it takes to reverse conditions that you may have had for many years or months. Traditional (Chinese) medicine thrives when the diagnosis system is used appropriately and patients understand that herbal medicine is also an important component of resolving chronic issues. Some patients expect miracles in a few treatments, and while that can be possible by very experience practitioners in a small number of cases, many patients need an overall plan to bring their body back into harmony and balance.
Al Thieme, LAc, MAOM, MSEE
Al Thieme, LAc, MAOM, MSEE
Many patients report feeling relaxed, calm, and sometimes a little bit tired. Some say they feel more like themselves. Every now and then some patients will feel a little worse before they feel better. This is rare and usually only lasts 24-36 hours.
Yvonne R. Farrell, DAOM, LAc
Yvonne R. Farrell, DAOM, LAc
Great question! After first acupuncture treatment, everyone has a different response. Some feel immediately lighter, others, relaxed, like a mini vacation, and some a very subtle sense of the lights coming back on or balance.
It’s best to be patient with chronic conditions, such as depression. Some patients experience immediate results, and others are able to balance lifelong depression in just a few months of consistent treatments. The more chronic, the longer it takes to address the root cause. Patience, consistency, and persistence are key in overcoming depression with acupuncture!
It’s best to be patient with chronic conditions, such as depression. Some patients experience immediate results, and others are able to balance lifelong depression in just a few months of consistent treatments. The more chronic, the longer it takes to address the root cause. Patience, consistency, and persistence are key in overcoming depression with acupuncture!
Good afternoon,
After your first acupuncture treatment, you should feel more relaxed, more calm. Although sometimes it takes 2-3 treatments to feel significant changes.
David
After your first acupuncture treatment, you should feel more relaxed, more calm. Although sometimes it takes 2-3 treatments to feel significant changes.
David
Hello! Depending on your treatment, you should have a immediate decreased in pain and will need to relax for the next few days.
You will most likely feel like you’ve had a glass of wine after acupuncture, for the simple reasons that acupuncture increases the natural levels of serotonin and dopamine in circulation and improves circulation over all. Improving circulation decreases the harmful effects of stress on the body and has a soothing effect on the whole body.
Warmly,
Natalie Ramsey, MS LAc
Warmly,
Natalie Ramsey, MS LAc
You will most likely feel very relaxed after any acupuncture treatment, and quite possibly less depressed. I start with twice a week, and as the depression goes down and stays down between appointments, I start spreading them further apart. I strongly recommend doing it. You'll be really glad you did.
Mr. Anthony James Lorenzo
Acupuncturist
Impossible to predict as most people are seriously afraid of needles when they come in until they experience one and see they are very different than any frame of reference experientially they have had before. Some patients are able to relax, and some other patients need a few treatments to be able to relax. Usually, when people relax, you feel a little relaxation buzz afterwards. Some, this takes getting comfortable a few treatments later to experience. But that is the goal...eventually.
You should feel relaxed even after first treatment.
Relaxed! It may take some time to find significant changes in your primary complaint (be it depression, pain, etc.) but you should feel relaxed and sense of wellness after each treatment. It's also possible that you may feel sore or aching in the areas where needles were inserted, or generally fatigued. This is normal. The fatigue should wear off after a good night's rest and the soreness within 1-2 days.
If you leave feeling your condition has worsened, try another practitioner or style of acupuncture.
If you leave feeling your condition has worsened, try another practitioner or style of acupuncture.
The short illness, the quick results will show.
Your should feel relaxed and peaceful.
Thank you for your inquiry ! If you get good acupuncture, after treatment, you will feeling light and walking briskly, and feeling happy and the body's pain is relieving or disappearing.
To be honest, you may not notice much of a difference after a single treatment. Acupuncture for any condition is usually a front-loaded process - meaning you're looking at a series of treatments to bring your issue under control. For most folks and most conditions I usually tell people to be prepared to attend at least 3-4 sessions before they decide acupuncture isn't working.
The other complicating factor here is the Chinese diagnostic model. In Chinese medicine we recognize that people often experience the same or similar issues for different underlying reasons. Some of those underlying reasons are easier to treat than others which can affect how many treatments a person might need before they start to notice changes.
I do a bit of work with mild to moderate depression. I've received a variety of feedback from patients after a first session. This feedback ranges from improvement of symptoms for the first day or two after the first session, to no changes for a day or two after the session followed by a slow improvement over the next several days. Sometimes people notice improvement in other symptoms like reduced fatigue or more energy in the mornings or greater ability to tolerate things that would previously have caused anger or increased depression. Sometimes people don't report any changes for the first session or two and by the third or fourth session they're seeing lots of improvement.
Each person represents a unique set of circumstances and treatments are tailored to the individual. Without meeting and diagnosing you, it's hard to predict what you might experience after your first treatment.
The other complicating factor here is the Chinese diagnostic model. In Chinese medicine we recognize that people often experience the same or similar issues for different underlying reasons. Some of those underlying reasons are easier to treat than others which can affect how many treatments a person might need before they start to notice changes.
I do a bit of work with mild to moderate depression. I've received a variety of feedback from patients after a first session. This feedback ranges from improvement of symptoms for the first day or two after the first session, to no changes for a day or two after the session followed by a slow improvement over the next several days. Sometimes people notice improvement in other symptoms like reduced fatigue or more energy in the mornings or greater ability to tolerate things that would previously have caused anger or increased depression. Sometimes people don't report any changes for the first session or two and by the third or fourth session they're seeing lots of improvement.
Each person represents a unique set of circumstances and treatments are tailored to the individual. Without meeting and diagnosing you, it's hard to predict what you might experience after your first treatment.
